Saturday, August 6, 2016

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: Data-Driven Racism

Upper Darby is a school district in the Philly part of Pennsylvania with problems deep enough that I will not attempt to sort them out from the other end of the state. Financial issues, segregation, proposed new schools, and a ballbusting superintendent who was put on leave by the board in a non-public meeting-- it's clearly a huge mess with several local issues intersecting . But one of the issue

58by Peter Greene / 3h

YESTERDAY

Bellwether Partners, one of the nation's leading reform right-tilted thinky tanks, have created a new report big enough to deserve its own website. The Learning Landscape is an attempt to create a broad overview of the education biz right now, and while there is much to disagree with, it's a bold attempt and an impressive collection of data and stuff. I've read this so that you don't have to, but

Courtesy of Maria Popova's indispensable website Brain Pickings comes a look into one of author Neil Gaiman's awesomely uplifting essays, this one originally delivered at The Reading Agency , an English charity devoted to developing young readers (you can find the full essay in The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction ). The riches of this essay are considerable. On the business of makin

67by Peter Greene / 1d

AUG 04

Eva Moskowitz was given some space by her buddies at the New York Post to run one more advertisement for her Success Academies, this time featuring a twisty interpretation of recently released test scores. She actually starts from an accurate place, noting that the mayor and chancellor are not really entitled to victory laps about the test results because, as State Ed Honcho Elia already noted , t

Rocketship Academy's blog recently ran a piece by one of their teachers that really captures some critical problems with their entire approach to education. Step One, it suggests, is to get children to not behave like children. Kindergartners Conquering Personalized “Quests” Learn To Love Reading was contributed by Lauren Berry, who has a solid modern charter background-- after graduating from USC

4by Peter Greene / 1d

AUG 03

The Friedman Foundation for Choice in Education has a new name-- EdChoice . The organization considers the change of their "brand" in the pages of its blog . Milton and Rose Friedman are both currently dead, but they apparently left a plan for making sure the group outlived them and kept its focus on its mission, not its deceased beneficiaries. They remain committed to choice, but We don

Well, of course it was about no excuses for the students. That was pretty much the whole point . It's the kind of setting Those People need. "We don't a care if you're poor or dyslexic or homeless or just plain not very bright. We are going to demand that you succeed." That's what Those Children need, and it's what No Excuses schools have always promised and demanded. So the first part

81by Peter Greene / 2d

AUG 01

The Thomas Fordham Foundation releases a report today looking at cyber charters in Ohio , and the cover of the report signals pretty clearly where we're headed. Ouchies! Stock Photo Lad is clearly not prepared to sing the joyous praises of his virtual school, and that bored and contemptuous face pretty much sets the tone for the report (presumably he is a cyber charter student, and not someone who

Camp Philos was not so swank this year. In previous years, the Very Deeply Thoughty reformster retreat has taken place at luxurious retreat locations. But this year the Festival of Reforminess was held in Philadelphia in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention. That makes a certain amount of sense because Camp Philos is a project of the Democrats for Education Reform, and DFER is a pro

24by Peter Greene / 5d hide // save

JUL 31

I think of Common Core defenders as a little like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster-- folks kind of believe they're out there, but only a handful of folks will admit to having seen them. After all, neither major party will admit to loving the Core any more, and lots of policy folks have adopted the more generic and less civilian-alarming "college and career ready" for describing any kind

It's been a few weeks since I had a reading list for you, and this is certainly not the complete list of what I could recommend, but there are still only so many hours in a Sunday. Tea Party Charter Leader Admits Becoming a Cyber School Was Simply a Way To Get a Charter From Eclectablog, which should be on your must-read list, one more example of how the charter sector (particularly in Ohio) is a